This article talks about food trucks in Washington DC.  Stephan Boillon wanted to create a new restaurant, but he did not have the money for it. Instead he came up with the plan of running a food-truck that sold home-made sandwiches. The catch is that although the start-up price is lower with food trucks the lifetime- percentage of earnings is higher with a restaurant. There is also the risk of the rainy days where you won’t get very much of a profit. I thought that this article had a very interesting topic. I have seen these food trucks many times in many different cities but I have never thought what it would be like to run one. I guess that it would be kind of cool to be able to drive almost anywhere in town to sell your food. However I would have difficulties with the job since I am very tall. If I was to open a food truck I would make sure that I had a completely original idea, as I would not want to be just another hot dog vendor on the street.
Jack B

The article I read was "Pocketful Of Dough" by Bruce Feiler. The story takes place in New York City. This article is basically about a guy named Bruce Feiler, and what he does is he carries a $20 and a $50 bill in his left pocket. And a $100 bill in his right pocket and he goes around to famous or good resturants and try to ease his way into the resturant with all or some of the money he has in his pocket. Also, what Bruce does is he cuts waiting lines and here is an example. One day he went to one of New York's overbooked resturant which was called "Balthazar". Feiler never made a reservation at the Balthzar, but he made a cut in the line of 2,700 people who were still waiting to get into the Balthzar. That's how good Bruce Feiler was; Also his magazines editor can pay for his meals for him. So basically his meas are for free. Bruce Feiler also makes a deal with an editor to see if Bruce can get into New York's best resturants by just using a $20, $50, and $100 bills.

Andy DeWolfe

Class 8

14 December 2012

The article I read was about a local hot dog stand called “Super Duper Weenie”! They were established in February of 1992 with a portable truck. In the summer of 1999, the owner had a small lunch kind of diner. The hot dogs diner is located in Fairfield, CT, off of the Fairfield turnpike. “Super Duper Weenie” makes hot dogs with cuts of beef and pork with a hint of smoke. Their bread is made and brought from a local bakery, the bread is hot and fresh every single morning. Their relishes are both sweet and hot, both made from starch. The kraut is barrel style sauerkraut and their potatoes are a specific kind of potatoes for only their French fries. They also make chili, chicken nuggets and much more. So go on down to “Super Duper Weenie” it is totally worth it. 

                      

The article was Pocketful of Dough, written by Bruce Feiler I would think that when you go to a restaurant in New York City you need to have a reservation if you ever want to eat there. Bruce Feiler walked into a popular restaurant with $20 bill and $50 bill in his left pocket and a $100 bill in his right pocket, seeing if he could get into the restaurant. When I read this I was shocked to see that some of the maitre d’ accepted the money from him. Then, when they gave him a seat he would gladly give them a big tip which they were happy to take. Bruce decided to tackle the hardest task trying to get into Alain Ducasse. Word got around that it could only seat 65 people and that there is a waiting list of 2,700 people. He gave the maitre d’ the $100 dollars and he was called back within 48 hours with a seat. I can’t believe that he was able to just bribe him into giving him a seat. Bruce had just jumped ahead of 2,700 people waiting to get in for only $100.00!! Jessica L.

In movies, we always see the wealthy guy walk into a popular, expensive restaurant without a reservation, slip the maître d’ a hundred dollar bill, and the wealthy man is seated almost immediately. But the question on hand is, “Does this really happen in real life?” Well, according to Bruce Feiler, in his article “Pocketful of Dough” it does; and it is a lot easier than one would expect. Feiler, who works for Gourmet magazine, makes a deal with his editors to see if he can get into New York’s finest restaurants using a $20, a $50, and a $100 bill, then the magazine will pay for his meal. So he does this. On different nights, he will take a date and try to get into New York’s most exclusive restaurants, with waiting lists rumored to be anywhere from 50 people to 2,700 people. The restaurants he visited included Balthazar, Union Square Café, Nobu, Le Bernardin, Sparks Steak House, and Alain Ducasse. And without a reservation, Bruce Feiler managed to get a seat at all of these restaurants by dressing properly, acting dignified, being polite, smiling, building a good relationship with the staff, and offering the maître d’ a little “extra.” This article surprised me. Only a hundred dollars to jump a 2,700-person waiting list? I was not surprised that bribing a maître d’ would help your chances of getting into a restaurant, but with out being somebody I did not think Bruce Feiler would get in this easily. But realistically, it is not extremely surprising that the maître d’ would accept the tip. If you think about it maître d’s are making minimum wage or less, plus the occasional tip, while trying to live in one of the world’s most expensive cities. If they have a chance to take home an extra $20-$100, they are going to do it. Feiler made a good point when he discussed how older generations found bribing a maître d’ to get a seat much more acceptable then it is found today. Yet, this still goes on, and the maître ds risk their jobs every time they accept the bribe. This article was very interesting to read and sheds a new light on the “underground” ethics of the New York restaurant industry. KAtelynn, M

Article: Pocketful of Dough, publisjed October 2000, written by Bruce Feiler To say the least, this article was shocking. I didn't realize that people are actually successful at getting into New York's best restaurants with out a reservation. In this article, Brtuce Feiler explains how he successfully cuts waiting lines at a restaurant that consist of 50 or even 2,700 people!! The fact that he bribes the maitre d was suprising, but the fact that the maitre d would accept the money and get them a table was unbelievable! The way Feiler planned what he would do was amazing! From each experience, he learned something new about how to bribe them perfectly. And, he realized what to do if the maitre d didn't accept the money but still gave you a table-give them a generous tip. Feiler found it important to make relationships with those he bribed because he then becomes one of their finest customers. In conclusion, the way Feiler easily got his way into restaurants consisted of bribing, but with that dressing nicely, having confidence, still giving a generous tip, and forming a relationship. This article really opened my eyes to see that people in reality, like those in movies, do get their way into restaurants by means of a bribe. -Lindsay B.

During the power outage, cooking wasn't a problem at all, thanks to our new gas stove. However, last year it was difficult because our stove ran on oil so we can't cook anything. Our oil stove was the flat surface kind. And its similar to this one below.

Last year when we had this stove it was impossible to use. And we didn't get a generator until we got our power back. We did have a fireplace, but cooking on it wasn't a good idea. When we made eggs in the morning it took about a half hour just to cook. So that whole week we had to to eat out in restaurants or order take out meals instead. I don't really like to eat out a lot because I think everything homemade is healthier and tastes better too.

But the one this year runs o gas which is better because if you had matches an lighters then it was easier to turn on. And the gas stove we have today looks like this one below. The matches helped a lot and we had a generator this year but we couldn't plug it into the generator because it takes up too much power. So my parents had to cook everything on the stove. But at least it was better than last year. My parents had to cook things without and oven only a stove but it wasn't impossible. It was easy. Just make quick home cook meals like pasta, rice, fried chicken wings.

So, the power outage wasn't that bad compared to last years. Cooking, was simple and easy and I kind of helped a little because feeding a family six was hard and all you had was a few matches and not a lot of room to work on one stove.

This weekend my mother and I made frozen Toblerone mousse squares. They were for a party that my parents were going and I helped out in making them. First we mixed 1 cup of oreo baking crumbs and butter and pressed them on the bottom of a 9-inch square pan. Next we microwaved 1 and a half Toblerone bars until melted. After that I mixed cream cheese spread with the mixer until creamy and then gradually mixed in milk. Next I blended in the melted chocolate and whisked in the cool whip. Finally I spooned the mixture over the crust and put it in the freezer for six hours. When we took the bars out of the freezer we sprinkled the second half of the chocolate bar on top of the recipe, and cut them it into squares. The bars came out delicious, my mom brought me home one. We will definitely make these again soon. Jack B

This weekend I went to The Smithy, a steak restaurant in Monroe, with my family. I ordered a demi-striploin, and it came with salad and a cheese block appetizer. There was a salad bar at one end of the restaurant and a table with a couple types of cheeses and breads at the center. I had some cheese and crackers, as well as a salad with Italian dressing. I ordered my steak medium-rare and had a baked potato with it. My steak came out excellent and the baked potato was very good as well. My mom had the shrimp scampi; I tried a piece and it was very good as well. My father had the porterhouse steak and said it was great as well. The food was delicious, and I would definitely recommend going there. I will definitely be returning there sometime in the future. Jack B

Pat’s Thanksgiving Desert J

As I stated in my first blog, Thanksgiving dinner is a very happy time of year for me, and we also make special foods that you might not find in the normal household. Believe it or not, I have my own recipe that I make for desert. My famous desert is my famous chocolate covered strawberries. This might not sound like much, but for someone as Cooking challenged as I am, I take pride in making it. This is a process that I have to start the night before, so I can let the chocolate get hard and freeze around the strawberry. However, I start by getting a lot of strawberries on a plate and put a lot of chocolate fudge in a bowl. It is pretty self explanatory, but then you dip the strawberries in the fudge and then put the strawberry back on the plate. Sometimes, I also dip the strawberries in sprinkles, and I enjoy this better. After you put them in the fried over night, you have chocolate covered strawberries, and they are very cold and I like this a lot. I make them for thanksgiving desert, but you are lucky if they make it to 2 o’clock. The strawberries are a fan favorite in my household. So many people come to my house for Thanksgiving, so you can tell that they go by very fast. Instead of using fudge, sometimes I get Hershey chocolate bars and melt the chocolate, and that also gives it a different taste. To melt the chocolate, I put the chocolate over the stove and put a little water in the bowl. This gives the chocolate a liquidly texture. Even though it does not sound like much, I take pride in my strawberries. They take a lot of care, and a lot of people like to eat them in my household, so I have to make them well to avoid angry Thanksgiving family members. McLoughlin P

Patrick McLoughlin

Class 8

November 20, 2012

Blog #1

Thanksgiving meal

            I am pretty sure I can speak for most Americans when I say that Thanksgiving is definitely by far my favorite holiday. When you think of U.S. holidays, Thanksgiving is the main one that comes to mind. The perfect thing about Thanksgiving is that you it is a day set a side to indulge on as much food as possible, and the food never runs out. My family has many foods that aren’t in the traditional Thanksgiving meal, and I will state them for you. First of all, my older sister, Maggie, makes home made macaroni and cheese that is a fan favorite at my house for thanksgiving. She cooks noodles, not by boiling them, but however by putting them in the oven with a ton of cheese, pepper, and cinnamon drizzled on the top of it. This might not sound too good, however if you eat it, you will have to keep eating. Another thing that my house hold is famous for during thanksgiving is our broccoli casseroles. This might sound very gross to most at a first thought, but it is one of my favorite dishes. This is odd coming from me because I am a very picky eater, and the only reason I ate it in the first place is because my mom offered me 5 dollars when I was about 8, and this was a huge amount of money to me at the time, and I thought it was worth it to eat something as gross as it looked and sounded. But when I ate it, I became in love with it. McLoughlin P :) 

Thanksgiving is the time of year to be thankful, to spend time with your family, too … Okay, it’s more about the food actually.

Sift together

·       2 cups flour

·       ½ tsp. salt

·       ½ tsp. baking powder

·       1 tsp. baking soda

·       1 tsp. ground clove

·       1 tsp. cinnamon

·       1 tsp. nutmeg

In separate bowl:

·       Beat 2 cups sugar and ¾ cup butter

·       Add 2 eggs and beat until fluffy

·       Beat in 1lb can pumpkin

Then beat in flour (low speed)

Grease and flour two loaf pans and bake at temperature of 325 for an hour.

Enjoy a warm slice with whipped cream cheese or plain.

I ate a lot of different things over the week that we didn’t have power. My house lost electricity for four days and didn’t have a generator so we were out of luck in terms of cooking. The first night my mom made steak on the barbecue because it didn’t require any power to run and she wanted to use them so that they wouldn’t go bad. They were just your everyday normal steaks with montreal steak seasoning, nothing to special. The second night we went out to Tambacio’s restaurant down route 25. The barbecue had run out of propane so we had no way of cooking anything back at my house. While we were there I ordered ravioli, it had cheese inside and was in a tomato sauce, I thought tat it was pretty good. The next night I was with my friends and they had a generator so his mom cooked for us. She made buffalo chicken in the crockpot, it was cool because it had the texture of something close to pulled pork but tasted way different, we ate it on roles and made sandwiches. The last night that I didn’t have power I was out with my friends so we just got fast food at Wendy’s. I don’t go to fast food restaurants very much so I figured it was okay every once and a while. From Spencer B

Mike Davis Mrs. Hoagland Culinary November 19, 2012 Blog Number 2 This week my mother made some home made meatballs. She got the meat, and some fresh herbs and mixed them all together. She then rolled them all out into balls, and decided to freeze half so she could save them for a later date. With the ones she was going to use for that night, she baked them in the oven for a certain amount of time. Then she threw them into the crock-pot with some sauce and let that heat up for a while. When they were finally done, I took a Portuguese roll, and put a piece of provolone cheese on it. I then went over to the crock-pot and grabbed a couple meatballs to complete my sub. I added some Parmesan cheese on top, just to add a little more flavor. That meatball sub happened to be one of the better ones I have had in a while, probably because it was home made. My mom also made chicken Marsala the other night. I’m not sure exactly how she made it, because she kind of made it a surprise. She put the chicken over some freshly made pasta, and added a couple vegetables on the side. The chicken was actually very good. She said that she thought it was even better than one made from the Newtown Inn, and I actually had to agree with her. My mom stepped it up with the food this time; hopefully she continues her fabulous cooking. I’ll keep you guys posted.

This Thanksgiving it is my dad’s turn to have the kids, so my mom had her Thanksgiving dinner, this past Saturday. The dinner started with half a grape fruit with a little powered sugar on top, to as my mom says, “cleanse our palates”. Next came the main meal, it was a mix of all different side dishes and of coarse a perfectly cooked turkey. The side dishes are the same dishes we have every year, and I LOVE them, Thanksgiving would not be the same without them. Some of the side dishes were your standard Thanksgiving sides, the green bean casserole with French onion rings on top, bread roles, white-mashed potatoes and gravy, canned cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes chopped into blocks with butter, a spread of different olives and pickles, candied yams, sautéed carrots and green beans, and a broccoli, sunflower-seed, and red onion salad which is a family recipe passed down from my grandmother. And for dessert we had a choice of pumpkin or pecan pie. The whole afternoon ended with a fun family competitive game of touch football. ~Katelynn M.

-Jack Condon Although it may be expensive and not appetizing for others, sushi is my all time favorite food. Sometimes you may hear that sushi can make people sick. It's because sushi is fish that is served raw. It is important to go to a good sushi restaurant that serves the freshest fish. Regardless, sometimes I go to a place I have never heard of and take the risk, because in my mind, sushi is worth the risk. Once you have sushi there is no way to explain how delectable it is. There are many different types of sushi rolls consisting of Hamachi, Tekka Maki, Unagi, Temaki , and many more. some American rolls are the California Roll, New York roll, and Boston roll. Whether it is American or Japanese sushi it is very good! One time when I went to a Sushi/hibachi restaurant with my family and I, we had to kneel on matts on the ground to eat our food. It was very strange but I am sure it was part of the culture revolving around the food. The food ended up being amazing and the vibe of the restaurant was extraordinary. ever since the first time I have eaten there, which was almost 3 years ago, my family and I have eaten there 4 times. sushi is an excellent type of food and I am willing to travel and spend money on a food I can trust that will taste amazing. If you still believe sushi is gross and you are afraid to try it, go ahead and take a bight I guarantee you will be surprised on how delicious it is.

Over the summer, I went to Italy for a month to see my mother who lives there. I stayed with her and her boyfriend, who manages a resort hotel just outside of the center of Rome. I went to this hotel almost everyday, and I ate a lot of delicious new food combinations that I’ve never had before. One of the two dishes that became my favorite was the Tomino. It looked like this:

This is a small block of tomino cheese wrapped in bacon with balsamic vinegar on top, resting on top of a small bowl of salad. This was a completely new idea to me and it was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. I would recommend this dish to anyone who enjoys cheese. It’s a new flavor and it’s fairly simple to make, using only a few ingredients.

By: Cameron Partrick

Food can be anything
Food is different
food is unique
and can always use a tweak
Food is big, small, hot, cold
and can occasionally catch mold
Food can be fatty
Food can be lean
and can even be green
Food can be yummy
it can be chummy
it all depends on your tummy
Food can be Mexican Japanese or Chinese
it can be anything that we please
Food can take all different shapes, sizes, and smells
It can be delicious, ambitious, and most importantly nutritious
Food is here
Food is there
Food can be everywhere
Food can be anything

 Poem by Blake Jarvis

Nicholas Carozza Last Sunday I ate something rather different for lunch. I had made a duck, which I normally don’t eat regularly or basically at all. In the morning I went to the store and I saw that they were selling whole ducks, so I thought that it would be a good choice for lunch because it was something different. When I had got home I started to prepare the duck, I got a big baking pan and put the entire duck in. Then What I did was peel and cut four or five potatoes and place them all around and on top of the duck. Then I got some herbs and spices and placed it all on the duck itself. When we bought the duck, it came with some kind of orange sauce so I got the sauce and rubbed it all over the duck so that when it was cooking the sauce would go inside of the duck and add even more flavor. To cook the duck I turned on my oven to 200 degrees and put the duck in. I let the duck sit in the oven for about three to four hours. During the cooking period, I had to make a side dish, so I decided to make Chestnut corn bread stuffing. To make that I chopped up stale bread we had lying around, chestnuts, carrots, celery, onion, chicken broth and seasonings. (Salt and Pepper). To cook that I added all of those to a cooking pot that is oven safe and I let that cook for about a half hour to fourty five minutes. Once the stuffing and the duck were done I combined them in a dish and ate. The duck was so flavorful and the stuffing was so good. You never know the outcome of a dish you don’t really eat unless you try it.

For this thanksgiving I wasn’t just going to go the usual, I wanted to try something different. Me and my mom both decided that this year we would smoke the turkey for thanksgiving. I looked up some different ways to smoke a turkey, not a recipe but just an idea. Some were dry rubbed and some were marinated and some were brined. Brining is when you take a choice of meat and u let it sit in a liquid for hours, some people use cider, citrus and some will even use honey brine’s. I’m choosing to use a cider brine, what I am planning on doing is taking apple cider, brown sugar , salt , pepper , and some fresh herbs and letting it sit completely submerged overnight. This will make our turkey moist and juicy. Usually you cook your average turkey in the oven at 325°-350°, when you smoke you use a temperature that is lower so you can cook it low and slow. I will probably be trying to maintain a temp of 285°-295° for the whole cooking period. Since I have an electric smoker it will be easier to maintain the temperature. After cooking all day we will sit down to a new way of enjoying turkey! Michael B

Recently I have gone to Maggie McFly’s which is a small restaurant in Newtown with my family. The food contains all the basic types of food such as steak, hamburgers, pizza, mac & cheese, pasta and many more. The restaurant has no specific theme; it is many cultures mixed together. The food is nothing special and pretty average tasting. Therefore, it was not the best food that I have ever eaten it got the job done. The real issue was in their service. The food took forever to be prepared and served to us. By the time we got the food it had been over an hour since we had ordered. The food was not worth the wait in my mind. I don’t want to say it was a bad restaurant because it wasn’t there was just a few issues. I got the filet steak, it was very moist with little grill marks. It was cooked medium rare which is exactly what I had asked for. At least they had got the orders right to make the experience a little more desirable. Overall I give the restaurant a 7 out of 10 because of the preparation time. - Jason S.

Zach Waller Hoagland Culinary 1 19 November 2012 Bolognese Sauce My father loves to cook, and always is up to try something new. Bolognese sauce is not a new project for him, but he had not made it in at least 6 months. This time, I decided to help him out making it, and it was very informative and interesting. First, I will briefly discuss what Bolognese sauce is, for some of you may not know. It is an Italian meat sauce that is generally served over thicker, heartier pasta to support the overall volume of the sauce. Think of it as grinded up meatballs almost, but significantly more elegant and distinguished. We started by gathering our “mise en place”, getting all of the ingredients in place and ready to roll. I was in charge of making a homogenous mixture all the ingredients in the actual Bolognese sauce. So, my dad did most of the actual mixing and applying of the ingredients, which consists of a multitude of vegetables, some tomatoes, olive oil, etc. And of course, meat. We used very lean pork with nearly every bit of fat either chopped or cooked off. After the application of all the ingredients is finished, you let it simmer on the lowest possible heat for a long time in the pot, around 4 hours, to give it a delectable consistency. Upon it’s finish, Mix in a knob or two of butter if wanted, but personally I did not. Also, about two generous tablespoons of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano per serving. This gives it an incredibly creamy flavor. It is a fantastic, hearty sauce that should be a favorite of any pasta fans. Zach W

Lobster Lobster is an expensive food, but it is definitely worth it because it is extremely delicious. It is one of my favorite foods and is definitely my favorite kind of seafood. It’s also my Dad’s favorite seafood. My dad likes his lobster boiled and with butter. I personally like lobster rolls the best. Lobster can be in soups, bisques, and Cappon Magro (which is a salad of seafood and vegetables served on hard tack) also. It can be boiled or steamed and is usually served with clarified butter. The butter gives the lobster a sweeter taste which is why people like it so much. But, there is some danger in eating lobster because it has an average mercury level of 0.31ppm. Most of the meat in a lobster is located in the claws of the lobster. Meat is also located in the tail (usually the best meat) and where the claws connect to the body. People say the best lobster comes from Maine. I’ve never compared any lobsters so I’m not sure. Overall I think lobster is delicious and is definitely one of my favorite foods. Tommy S Class 8 11/19/12

As the thanksgiving season comes along, I thought it would be nice to think about one of the main foods we eat: Turkey!

Here are some interesting facts about the animal, feel free to ponder them while digesting that thanksgiving meal:

1. These birds are omnivorous and will try many different foods. Most of their diet is grass and grain, but wild turkeys have a varied diet and will also eat insects, berries and small reptiles. [1]

2. Benjamin Franklin never proposed the turkey as a symbol for America, but he did once praise itas being “a much more respectable bird” than the bald eagle. [3]

3. The wild turkey’s bald head and fleshy facial wattles can change color in seconds with excitement or emotion. The birds’ heads can be red, pink, white or blue. [1]

4. The average American eats 18 pounds of turkey every year, and more turkeys are consumed on Thanksgiving than on Christmas and Easter combined. [1]

5. Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead. [2]

6. Turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining.[2]

7. Wild turkeys were first domesticated in Mexico and then exported to Europe. European settlers brought domesticated turkeys back to the New World with them as colonists, but would also hunt the wild birds they found. [1]

8. Wild turkeys see in color and have excellent daytime vision that is three times better than a human’s eyesight and covers 270 degrees, but they have poor vision at night. [1]

9. Alaska and Hawaii are the only two states without extensive wild turkey populations. [1]

10. A turkey’s gender can be determined from its droppings–males produce spiral-shaped poop and females’ poop is shaped like the letter J. [3]

Sources: 

[1] - http://birding.about.com/od/birdprofiles/a/turkeyfacts.htm

[2] - http://home.aristotle.net/thanksgiving/turkey-index.asp

[3] - http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2011/11/14-fun-facts-about-turkeys/

~Adam K

Andy DeWolfe

Culinary

Class 8

 

My favorite thing that I ate when hurricane Sandy came was MRE’s (meals ready to eat). I got the meals from Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Department because of hurricane Irena last year. When the hurricane came Fema (Federal Emergency Management Agency) gave us the MRE’S and water. I took about 4 cases of water and 4 boxes of MRE’S because they were left overs. The meals last for eight years if closed.   

The meals were really good they have different verities from spaghetti and chili and more.  They also have a cookie of some kind, peanut butter, crackers, a pop tart, and a kind of powder drink. The MRE’S that I picked comes in a water proof bag and includes salt, pepper and utensils.

The meals are premade when you open them up. You use the salt water to warm the meal up. The heaters are like hand warmers but they are a lot warmer.  To activate them you need to add the salt water, then the food gets warmed. 

Then you eat it!!

 

I go into culinary class one day and my teacher (Mrs. Hoagland) tells the class that we are making bechamel sauce and we are going to put it on pasta. My group finishes the sauce and I’m very excited to try it. I try the sauce with the pasta and it’s really good. I eat the rest on my plate and I want more. I then take the recipe home and tell my mom that we have to make this because it's very good. 2 days later my mom tells me that we are going to make the sauce and put it on are pasta for dinner tonight. I am very excited. That night, my brother and I made the sauce and the pasta. It came out very well and the whole family loved it. We kept going for seconds and thirds until it was all gone. My brother and I are definitely going to make the sauce again and try it on all different kinds of food because it was so good. I highly recommend this sauce.

        Michael P.

 

 

Butternut Squash Soup




Butternut Squash Soup

6 cups chicken broth/stock

One 2-pound butternut squash-quartered, seeded, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

5 thyme sprigs

2 garlic cloves, halved

2 medium leeks, white and pale green parts only, cut into 2-inch pieces

½ Lbs Bacon cut into small pieces

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

First I had to wash the butternut squash, then peel them, and then finally cut them into cubes. I then I also had to wash the off the leeks and cut them. After that I had to cut the bacon into small pieces. Then place the bacon pieces into a stock pot, when the bacon is done I took it out of the pot but, left the juice in the pot. Then after the bacon was done I added the squash, thyme, garlic, leeks and the chicken broth and I let them boil. Once it was boiling I covered the pot and let cook for 45 minutes.  When the 45 minutes was up I used a stick blender and mashed everything together and then added the bacon, pepper and salt.

Jessica L

 Prior to Hurricane Sandy, my mom went to Arthur Avenue in New York City and bought a lot of different pastas (fettuccini, cavatelli, ravioli) and bread. It was poor timing though because the storm was about to hit, and we always lose power. However, my mom didn’t want the nice food she bought to go to waste so we brought it over to our family friend’s house in Bethel because they never lose power. It was a good thing we did because Monday afternoon we lost power but we went to our friend’s house for dinner because they still had power and our food was there! That night my mom cooked spinach fettuccini and had me make a sauce for it…little did I know that it was a variation of a Bechamel sauce, Mornay. I started the sauce by making a roux, combining flour and butter. Then I added the milk and allowed it to heat up a little longer and get thicker. Then I added the cheese, parmesan and cheddar, and continued to stir it until it was finished. I then put it over the pasta, and it was finished! It turned out to be the best meal I had eaten during the storm!

-Lindsay B.

This past weekend, I had an unusual form of pasta. My family has named it “Genu”. It is one of our favorite Thanksgiving Day side dishes and is made rarely throughout the year. It is not time consuming and therefore can be easily made. The ingredients are as follows: 1 lb. Tubetini pasta, ½ cup of olive oil, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 small can of mushrooms, 3 sprigs of parsley (finely chopped), salt and pepper (to taste) and ¼ cup grated Romano cheese. The taste is very rich but it does not have a very strong smell. In addition to Genu this weekend, I also ate beer can chicken and a sweet potato. Genu happens to be one of my favorite foods. Once I take the first bite, there is no way to stop until it is all gone. I highly recommend this recipe for all pasta lovers along with anyone who likes to try new foods. It is definitely worth giving it a shot. -Jason S.

Zach’s egg white dish This creation came to me with health benefits in mind. I use egg whites from a carton opposed to regular eggs because this way proves to be a much healthier alternative, and is generally easier to work with. All you do is take the carton out of the fridge and bam; there are your egg whites. I also use vegetables, usually frozen. I use frozen because of the availability, and they stay fresher longer. And besides, when you put the frozen on the cooking pan, the frozen vegetables quickly cook into a medley that would seem like it was just picked from the garden fresh. My inspiration to create this cool dish is really from seeing my parents make scrambled eggs or omelets; here though, I just use a healthier alternative to eggs by using only egg whites, and add vegetables and Dash seasoning to it to create a delicious small meal. And sometimes, a bit of tabasco sauce to spice it up. Total Time: 10 Minutes Yield: 1 serving Ingredients: • ¾ cup egg whites • ¾ cup of mixed vegetables • Dash brand seasoning, to taste • Tabasco sauce, to taste Procedure: Take out a pan approximately 12 inches in diameter. Turn on stove and heat pan until water molecules jump around on the surface. Pour ¾ cup of egg whites on to pan and start to scramble with a rubber spatula. Add vegetables and make sure that they are heated and cooked well, losing all of the ice on them. Scramble it all until everything is a good temperature, then add Dash and Tabasco sauce to taste. Pour into a bowl and enjoy. Zach W

Ramen, contrary to popular belief, are an offset of the Chinese food Lo-Mein. The logic behind this? the Japanese pronounce the Chinese Characters for Lo-Mein as "Ramen" The dish originally became popular in the Japanese island of Hokkaido, specifically the capital, Sapporo. Amusingly enough, the dish was so popular their it is now concidered their regional dish. The instant noodles that people have come to know and love here in america were created by Momofuku Ando, the founder of the Japanese company Nissin Foods. In 1970, the brand "Top Ramen" was introduced to America. While there are many other Ramen brands out their today, Nissin Foods still holds captive 1/2 of the instant Ramen industry. One of the reasons Ramen is so popular is the cost, coming in at 12.5 cents on average in america. This is also one of the reasons why Ramen factories can be found not only in America, China, and Japan, but also in Europe, Malaysia, and Thailand. Ramen consuming countries also have their own preferences for flavors, similar to the toppings in Omelettes around the world. Koreans generally have spicy Ramen with a packet of black bean sauce. Japan prefers mild spices with seafood flavors. Here in America, we generally have the meat flavors with mild spices, but apparently there is also some mushroom flavors floating around the US somewhere... for More information on Ramen and it's history, please visit http://www.konzak.com/ramen/index.html. this is an excellent website with the history of Ramen, interesting facts on Ramen, and even recipes incorporating the Ramen noodles into other foods. I seriously recommend that last one, because unless your visiting Japan anytime soon, It's highly unlikely that your going to find a nice bowl of freshly made Ramen lying around, and this is probably the closest you can get. -AdamK

Here's a recipe for a Halloween cookie, (they taste better than they look) Witches Fingers (Green food coloring optional) 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup confectioners' sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon almond extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup whole almonds 1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel Liam D

Chocolate Chip Cookies Every year my mom and I make chocolate chip cookies from scratch around the start of December. It is something that we have done since I was a little kid, around 4 years old. We make the cookie dough; add in the chocolate chips and whatever other treats my mom wanted to put in the cookies. Usually my mom does most of the work, and I end up just playing around and throwing stuff into the batter, but now that I am getting older I am starting to help more. We always put the cookies in the oven around two or three o’clock so that we know we can put in a bunch of batches into the oven and have them all be ready by the time dinner is over. Its best to eat the cookies when they first come out of the oven because that is when they are the hottest, and also they are soft and melt in your mouth. After they cool off and time has gone by usually they get sort of hard and have a crunch to them like famous amous cookies, but they are still good. There is no specific cookie recipe that my mom and I use, just a generic chocolate chip cookie recipe I think, but its still good in the end. We have done this every year for a while now and I hope to continue the tradition. -Spencer B.

When you think of a snack, most people think of the junk food that comes in packages that can be bought off the shelf at your closest supermarket. But instead, I prefer to come home from school and make a quesadilla!

When I get home from school, I take a tortilla and spread shredded cheese all over it. Sometimes I put some taco meat on top of the cheese. After that, If i’m only making one then i’ll put it in the toaster oven for about 5 minutes. After that, I take it out of the toaster oven and let it sit for a few minutes while I spread my pineapple salsa and sour cream. Lastly, sit down and enjoy

Cameron P.

GUMBO Gumbo is probably one of my favorite things to eat. It is kind of spicy and hot but I still love it. Gumbo is a stew or soup that originated in South Louisiana during the 18th century. It usually has a stock that has very strong flavor and consists of the stock, meat or shellfish, and many different vegetables. There are a lot of different types of gumbo but the most often ones seen or the most popular ones are Cajun and Creole gumbo. Creole is very popular in New Orleans and contains shellfish tomatoes and some type of thickener. Cajun however, has many different variations and usually has a dark roux (a French base, made with flour and fat) with either some type of shellfish or fowl. Sausage and ham can be added to both varieties and usually is. The first time I had gumbo was probably a year ago at The Cheescake Factory by the Danbury Fair Mall. I had never had gumbo before and I was interested in what it would taste and look like. It was a very thick soup and was served with rice and some type of garnish on top of it. The gumbo looked a lot like the one shown here and I am pretty sure that it was a Creole gumbo I ate judging by the research I have done. And as you can see in the picture below gumbo can be made in many different ways and they can also look very different. I really enjoyed the gumbo but it is very filling and I don’t think anyone could finish it in one serving but, it tastes very good and is delicious. I would recommend it to anyone especially those who are fans of spicy food and thick soup. I would really like to eat this again because it was so good. Tommy S

The picture above shows one of the happiest moments in my life and a time I will never forget. It showed my first Chiffonade of basil. The first step to chiffonade any type of herb or leaf vegetable is you must stack your ingredient up. When stacked, you must then roll up your herb into the shape of a cigar roll. Once it’s rolled you must start to slice very thinly, so the end product results in almost a ribbon like shape. In the picture you can see the bottom part of my chiffonade is sliced thinly compared to the top where it’s sliced thicker. This is because the closer I got to the end of the basil the more scared I got that I would chop my finger off. Not only did I learn about how to chiffonade but I also learned how to cut the three different sizes of batons from potatoes, carrots, celery, and other vegetables. And from that baton I learned how to dice them into squares. Similarly, I learned the proper way to dice garlic and the appropriate way to cut using the “rocking motion.” So far I have learned a lot from culinary and I can’t wait to see what else there is in store. Blake, J

The new trend these days seems to be eating healthy and living the healthy life style. My family has been working on improving our eating habits, and one of our favorite healthy recipes is a Quinoa Salad recipe. I discovered this recipe on a YouTube channel named “Shayloss”. As the chef in this video states this meal is “power-packed awesomeness!” Ingredients: • 2 cups Quinoa • ½ Cup Cilantro • 2 Lime • 1 Jalapeno • 1 Green Pepper • 1 Onion • 2 ½ Tomatoes • 5 Garlic Cloves • 1 can of Corn • 1 can of Black Beans • 1 Tsp. Salt • 1 Tbsp. Cumin • ¼ cup Olive Oil • Tortilla wrap (As needed) • Tortilla Chip (As needed) Procedure: Rinse 2 cups of Quinoa, and pour into pot containing three cups of water. Leave on simmer for 20min. stirring occasionally. (Make sure all water cooks out!) Dice the jalapeno, green pepper, cilantro and, tomatoes. (Dice should be small enough to fit on a chip). Add the vegetables to the bowl including the corn and black beans. Next, dice onion and garlic and sauté together in a small fry pan. And add to bowl containing other vegetables. After that add the quinoa to the vegetables. Next, mix the olive oil, cumin, and salt into a small mixing bowl. And once mixed together pour onto quinoa and vegetables, and also squeeze limes over mixture too. One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it is so easy to personalize it. For example, when I make the recipe I do not add in the green pepper or the jalepeno. And when my step-mom makes it she adds a lot more cilantro then I do because she likes it that way. The best way to find the best mix is to make the recipe and then try it and see what you think would taste good or if you think it needs more of something. But remember you can always add more but you can’t take stuff out. When it comes to eating the quiona salad there are a lot of options! One of these optons is to put some in a tortilla wrap and make a quinoa burrito, or use the quinoa as a dip and eat it with a couple torilla chips. And of coarse you can always eat it plain. But, my personal favorite is to put some quinoa salad in the burrito and then crunch up some tortilla chips in the wrap to give it some crunch. Quinoa is extremely nourishing and filling, and the great thing is quinoa makes great leftovers! So you can eat it for lunch or dinner and snack on it the next day. Or if your going to a party it’s a great appatizer to bring. And in my expierance it is always a party favorite! If you want to see a video of the recipe you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCcOubnEsxk Katelynn,M

Homemade Pizza Today I cooked homemade pizza for dinner. I made the pizza with fresh dough from the grocery store, sauce, sausage, onion, and a clove of garlic. First I kneaded the dough with flour on a butcher block until it was fairly soft. Next I rolled the pizza until it was evenly flattened and had an even thickness of crust. Next I spread the sauce on the pizza evenly with a spoon. I had also been pan frying the sausage while the rolling the dough. I put a little bit of olive oil in the pan and cooked the sausage until there was no pink. I then spread the crumbled sausage on the sauce. I also cut up some onion and spread this on the sauce after the sausage Next I minced some garlic and placed it on the pizza. Finally I spread mozzarella cheese on the pizza and put it in the oven at 450° for 10 minutes. Benedict,J

Recipe for toffee bars

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine , soften

1 cup of packed brow sugar

1 egg yolk

1 1/3tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 cups (9oz) semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Beat butter, brown sugar, egg yolks, and villa in large mixer bowl until creamy, stir in flour, spread into grease 13k9 inch baking pan  

I enjoy the toffee bars because they are good and I like the way they taste and I beg and beg my mom too make them for me

Andy D

On October 9th, I went out for my birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant. I went to Toro. Toro is a Chinese restaurant in Newtown and my family and I love it. We always order a lot of food and share all of it. We sat down and we ordered, fried dumplings, pork lo mien, sesame shrimp, fried rice, ribs, and beef with vegetables. The dumplings and ribs came out first because they were the appetizers. Both were very good. The rips had delicious barbeque sauce that made the rips a lot better. The dumplings had soy sauce with it and it went very well with the dumplings. I like sauces on a lot of my food so that’s why I really liked both of those dishes. The pork lo mien, sesame shrimp, fried rice, and beef with vegetables then came out. The pork lo mien was very good. It also had onion in them which I really like and the pork was very good too. The best part of the dinner was when I ate the sesame shrimp. I love shrimp and the sauce made it so good. The sauce was a little hot and it was amazing. The fried rice was also good. The rice was mixed with corn, onions, and carrots. I also put sweet n soar sauce on it and it made the rice much better. The last food of the night that I had was the beef with vegetables. The beef was mixed with broccoli, corn, carrots, and peppers. The vegetables with the beef made it a lot better. It was one of my best dinners that I have had in a while. Michael P

Christmas Eve Meal On Christmas Eve every year my family and I cook a giant seafood dish. This dinner has been a tradition in my family since I was born and I look forward to it every year. The first coarse is a shellfish soup served with a crostini on the bottom of the bowl. My dad makes a mess of the kitchen and we all stand around and watch. He usually starts with the toasting of the crostini. He slices Italian bread, then sprinkles olive oil on each slice with a bit of garlic powder. He then toasts them in the oven. Using two frying pans he cooks the shellfish in a broth and small portions of a whitefish in another pan. The kitchen smells amazing at this point. Out comes the toast from the oven, while my father directs us to start helping. Each crostini piece goes in a huge white bowl and then my dad puts a piece of cod on top of each crostini. As the shellfish begins to open, my dad adds different stuff into the broth to make it tasty. We each walk over with our bowls and he scoops the broth over the cod and crostini. He counts out the shellfish to make sure each of us gets the same amount (I think he takes more though). He sprinkles a bit of parsley and cranks the peppermill over top of the bowl. We all enjoy the muscles, mahogany clams, and shrimp that float on top of the bowl. We always put a big bowl in the middle of the table and throw our empty shells in the bowl. It truly is amazing! -Jack C

Every Sunday is an NFL football Sunday. Throughout the fall and winter on Sundays I love to watch football and cook up some great food. Last Sunday, (October 14) I made slow cooked wings with a soup on the side. For my wings, I woke up early at around 9 o’ clock and cut up the wings for my liking. Then what I did was I turned on my grill outside to a very low heat and put the wings in. Every half hour for four hours I would go outside to my grill and flip the wings around and position them at different parts of the grill. Now while the wings were cooking I made some soup. The soup consisted of some pan seared steak (thinly sliced), carrots, tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, salt, pepper, celery, parsley, oregano, broccoli, and some linguine. I had to use canned chicken broth for the liquid of the soup because I am not really good at making a fresh homemade broth. Now I let that sit on low heat for about a half hour occasionally stirring it and adjusting the heat. At one o’ clock, I took the wings off the grill. When I brought them in on a plate they smelt so good and I could see that they would fall apart in my mouth. Since I like some hot wings on football Sunday I needed to make a hot wing sauce. First I had to get 2 cups of Franks Hot Sauce, 1 stick of salted butter, a tablespoon of tobasco sauce and a half-teaspoon of cyan pepper. I put all of the ingredients in a pot, I put it on low heat for 5 minutes when it is done, and I rubbed it all over the wings. When all of the football games started I had so much good food in front of me. There were fall of the bone hot wings and an everything soup. Sunday is great because you can enjoy good football and great food. Nicholas Carozza

As the weather starts to get colder, many people start to enjoy hotter foods such as soups or even warming drinks like hot chocolate. This weekend my mom made my family chicken noodle soup. Her soups are normally very good, but this one was delicious. She spent a lot of time preparing the chicken and making sure it was kept out of the temperature danger zone. She put in vegetables like carrots and celery that added an abundance of flavor. She put in some spinach or kale to introduce a new flavor. With the soup, she made egg noodles that really topped off the dish. The egg noodles mixed very well with the chicken noodle soup. I got a big bowl and put a handful of egg noodle in the bottom of it. Then I proceeded to pour the chicken noodle soup over the noodles until I got my desired amount. I sprinkled a little graded Parmesan cheese on the top and added a pinch of salt. I waited for it to cool down a little, and then I dug in. The warm feeling you get after you have hot soup is one of the better feelings I have ever experienced. Overall I was very happy with the effort my mom put into making chicken noodle soup for the Davis family. Hopefully, she tries to top her performance this weekend with another dish, so I have something to write about next month. love, Mike D.

Imagine this a delicious chocolate melting in your mouth. Yummm!! When you take a big bite you get this crunchy and caramelized taste but what is it? Its coconuts and almond mixed together in a caramel sauce. This is a homemade German chocolate cake that my step dad had made. The caramelized topping was made from scratch. When you have cakes they are usually covered all the way with frosting but not this cake. The cake has some of the frosting on the top of the cake and in the middle of the cake as well. Since the frosting is sweet the small amount that was added on the cake was not too much or too little. I think that when something is homemade it tastes better. When they are made at the store sometimes they add some artificial flavor and could have a lot of salt that is not healthy. When something is made at home you could substitute some of the ingredients and make the food healthier. For example you could use a lot less salt then something that was bought at the store. Jessica L.

Nut Free Granola Bars I always like to take snacks that I could buy at the store, and make them at home. I decided that the next thing I would make was granola bars, however when I was searching for a recipe it was hard to find one that was nut-free. I am allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, and most of the recipes I was finding had nuts and nut products in them, so I was unable to take them out. But, I came across a recipe that didn’t even have nuts listed as a necessary ingredient. I found this recipe, and couldn’t help but want to make it! “Playground” Granola Bars Ingredients: 2 cups rolled oats 1/2 cup unpacked light brown sugar 1/2 cup wheat germ 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup whole wheat flour 2/3 cup dried, sweetened cranberries 1/2 cup honey 1 egg, beaten 1/4 cup canola oil 2 teaspoons vanilla extract Procedure: 1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Generously grease a 9x13 glass dish, and line it with parchment paper. 2.In a large bowl, combine oats, sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, and cranberries. In a separate medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk honey, egg, oil, and vanilla together until well combined. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and pour the honey mixture into the well. 3.Combine the wet and dry ingredients with your hands until everything is moistened and mostly holding together in a loose ball. Flip the mixture onto the baking dish and pat into one giant rectangle, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges. 4.Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until edges begin to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then cut into squares. The granola bars turned out great!! I even added white chocolate chips in mine! They turned out to be like a combination of an oatmeal cookie and a granola bar. They were very soft, and flavorful! My mom also enjoyed them too because she too is allergic to tree nuts. I have come to realize that I don’t need to go searching in the stores for granola bars that I can eat, and instead I can make my own and try making different flavors. -Lindsay B.

            This past weekend I went to a street festival in Seymour Connecticut, it was wonderful. There were lots of different things to see, and for lunch I tried Old Fashioned Root Beer, and Porchetta on a hard roll, it was amazing. It was bursting with different flavors. Porchetta is pork loin seasoned with fennel, chile, and orange. It was kind of spicy but very good, id recommend it to anybody. Also, the old fashioned soda wasn’t as good as I expected, but still pretty good. You had to pull down a lever and it would pour into your cup, but if you didn’t pull down far enough, just seltzer would come out, and I think that was the problem since I got a lot of seltzer and not enough root beer in the cup. But overall the food was amazing, and I think it is defiantly everyone has to try.

                                                                                        -Jason S.